Radiotelephones generally refer to communications terminals which provide a wireless communications link to one or more other communications terminals. Radiotelephones may be used in a variety of different applications, including cellular telephone, land-mobile (e.g., police and fire departments), and satellite communications systems.
Radiotelephones and other communication devices are undergoing miniaturization. Indeed, many of the contemporary radiotelephone models are less than 11-12 centimeters in length. As a result, primary antennas that swivel or pivot from a stored position overlying the keypad or other housing portion of a radiotelephone to a position extending outwardly from the radiotelephone are becoming increasingly attractive to radiotelephone manufacturers. Pivotable primary antennas can achieve good radiation performance when in outwardly extended positions. Unfortunately, these pivotable antennas can be blocked by the body of a user when in a stored position (also known as "body shadowing"). As a result, radiotelephone operation may be difficult when a pivotable antenna is in a stored position.
In addition, when in a stored position, pivotable primary antennas that overlie a keypad or other housing portion of a radiotelephone may be insufficient for paging mode operation. For example, when a radiotelephone with a pivotable primary antenna in a stored position is placed within a user's shirt pocket, with the pivotable primary antenna facing the user's body (body shadowing problem), signal reception and radiation may be blocked by the user's body on one side and portions of the radiotelephone housing on the other side, particularly conductive housing portions.
It would be desirable to enhance the ability of radiotelephones that utilize pivotable primary antennas that overlie a keypad or other housing portion to receive paging signals when the primary antenna is in a stored position.